Method and device for pneumatically removing the tip or foot bunch from supply coils



H. RAASCH March 19, 1968 METHOD AND DEVICE FOR PNEUMATICALLY REMOVING THE TIP OR FOOT BUNCH FROM SUPPLY COILS Filed NOV. 50, 1966 w III r/ United States Patent 3,373,948 ,METHUD AND DEVICE FOR PNEUMATICALLY REMOVING THE TIP R FOOT BUNCH FROM SUPPLY COILS Hans Raasch, Rheydt, Germany, assignor to Walter Reiners, Monchen-Gladbach, Germany Filed Nov. 30, 1966, Ser. No. 598,063 Claims priority, application Germany, Dec. 2, 1965,

5 Claims. c1: 24235.6)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Supply coil is readied for subsequent processing by removing a tip or foot bunch therefrom by subjecting the bunch to be removed to the action of an air current supplied by a suction tube for relatively short time intervals until a thread end is exposed. The exposed thread end is clamped at a clamping location with a clamping device located in an opening of the suction tube between the intervals during which the bunch is subjected to the air current. The supply coil and the clamping location are relatively movable by means of 'a thrust member while the thread is clamped so as to mechanically draw off the thread end from the supply coil.

My invention relates to method and device for pneumatically removing the tip or foot bunch from supply coils such as for example spinning cops, pirn, bobbins or the like.

For further processing supply coils of the aforementioned type, for example in a spinning machine, in a weavers loom, or the like, it is necessary that the thread end located in the upper or lower winding of the coil, i.e. the bunch at the coil tip or at the coil foot, be readied so that it can be seized by the thread seizing member of the processing machine such as the spinning machine, the loom, or the like. In order to be able to place this thread end in readiness, it is consequently necessary to remove the tip or foot bunch in which the thread end is located.

In Patent No. 3,136,494 to S. Fiirst, there has already been disclosed and described a device for readying the thread end of supply coils, wherein a suction tube provided with a gripping claw or hook and a clamping device are employed for removing the tip bunch of a coil axially displaceable in front of the supply coil. The tip hunch is then seized by the gripping claw with relative motion between the supply coil and the suction tube and is mechanically pulled away, the thus freed thread end is drawn into the suction tube and rigidly clamped therein. A mechanical device of this type for removing the tip or foot bunch of supply coils has the disadvantage that it is capable of use only to a limited extent for different diameters of the coil cores. Moreover, the movement of the gripping member must be effected very carefully so that the coil winding or bunch is not damaged when mechanically drawn off.

To avoid the aforementioned disadvantages, various devices for pneumatically removing the tip or foot bunch from supply coils have already been proposed such as for example in Patent No. 2,208,930. These pneumatic devices which operate both with suction air (negative pressure) or with blown air (positive pressure) nevertheless have the disadvantage that the tip or foot bunch is not removed with absolute reliability from all textile coils supplied thereto. The pneumatic removal of the tip or foot bunch encounters difiiculties, namely when the thread ICC is entangled with adjacent threads or thread layers or is wound with dust from the ainlt is also possible that the coil core may be damaged at the location of the tip or foot bunch, and the thread can then be caught within a nick or groove resulting from the damage. In all such cases, reliable removal of the tip or foot bunch with pneumatic devices is not assured.

It is accordingly an object of my invention to provide method and device for pneumatically removing the tip or foot bunch from supply coils which is of so greatly improved construction that it at least approximately assures the same reliability in the removal of the bunch as is afforded by mechanical bunch-removing devices.

In accordance with a further object of my invention, I provide a method and device for pneumatically removing tip or foot bunches from supply coils which combines the advantages of both the pneumatic and mechanical bunch-removing devices known heretofore while eliminating the disadvantages heretofore inherent in both of such types of bunch-removing devices.

To this end, and in accordance with my invention, I provide a method for removing tip or foot bunches from supply coils which comprises subjecting the tip or foot bunch which is to be removed to the action of an air current repeatedly for short periods of time, clamping the exposed thread end during the periods between the separate intervals when the thread is subjected to the air current,-and mechanically drawing off the bunch by relative motion between the cop and the clamping location of the thread end. Since a thread end is always exposed first when the tip or foot hunch is pneumatically removed, it is possible by means of my invention also to remove tip or foot bunches wherein the thread is entangled. These entanglements are mechanically removed by relative m0- ti-on between the cop and the clamping location. During the next interval when the air current is applied to the bunch, the exposed thread end is again pneumatically removed. Since experience has shown that the thread is held fast at various locations due to dust from the air or the like, this operation should be repeated several times. Inasmuch as reliable removal of the tip as well as the foot bunches has been achieved with all of the cops heretofore tested, the objective has thus been achieved by the invention of this application of combining the advantages of pneumatic and mechanical removal of tip or foot bunches and avoiding the specific disadvantages of such removal.

Although the invention can be carried out with a forced or positive pressure air current as well as with a suction or negative pressure air current, it is generally sufiicient with the cops, threads and yarns employed at present, to use a suction air current. In this case, the method comprises, in a particularly advantageous manner, the steps of inserting and withdrawing the cop with the tip or foot bunch that is to be removed, repeatedly for short intervals, into and out of a suction tube opening, the thread end which is sucked into the suction tube opening being clamped each time the cop is Withdrawn from the suction tube opening. Instead of moving the cop into and out of the suction tube opening, it is of course understood that it is well within the scope of this method of my invention to move the suction tube so that its opening passes around or over the cop and then to remove the suction tube and the opening thereof from the position in which it is located around or over the cop.

A device for carrying out the aforementioned method of my invention comprises means for producing relative motion between the cop and the clamping device, the

bunchremoving device of my invention being coupled with the clamping device during the bunch-removing relative motion so that the clamping device is closed. In accordance with more specific features of my invention, the device comprises a suction tube for removing the tip or foot bunch and a clamping device located within the suction tube opening which is so constructed that, for the purpose of producing relative motion between the cop and the suction tube opening, a tappet or thrust member which is coupled with the closing mechanism of the clamping device, acts upon the cop. It is more specifically advantageous to construct the clamping device so that it simultaneously serves as the suction tube closing member.

Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.

Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in method and device for pneumatically removing the tip or foot bunch from supply coils, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.

The construction and method of operating of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying single figure of the drawing showing an elevational view partly in cross section of the device of my invention for removing the foot bunch of a spinning cop.

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown a spinning cop 1 having the usual steeply wound turns of a back winding 1a and a lower winding or foot bunch 1b. The cop 1 is supplied in a conveyor pocket 2 driven by a conventional driving mechanism not illustrated in the drawing. Of its own weight, the cop drops downward after removal of a flap member located near the foot thereof such as is for example disclosed in Patent No. 2,707,548 to S. Fiirst, into the funnel-shaped suction tube opening 3 to which the suction tube 31 is connected. A tappet 4, in the illustrated withdrawn position holds the valve flap 5, which serves to close the suction tube opening, in an open position by engaging with the arm a which is rigidly secured to the flap 5. When the tappet 4 is moved in response to the movement of a rod 41, which follows a non-illustrated cam mechanism, into the position 4 shown in phantom, the valve flap 5 is simultaneously moved by engagement with the tappet or thrust member 4 into the position 5 shown in phantom, and consequently closes the suction tube opening. Reliable closure of the flap 5, 5' is effected by the negative pressure of the suction tube. As long as the valve flap 5 is open, the air suction current is able to exert an influence upon the foot bunch 1b and to expose the thread end P. Let us assume that this thread end P has become entangled at a location of the foot bunch 1b. If the valve flap 5 is then moved over to the closed position 5' thereof, the thread end P corresponding to the phantom view F thereof is clamped against the clamping location 32 of the suction tube opening 3 which has the form of a sealing surface. With the further movement of the tappet 4 to the phantom position 4, the cop 1 is forced out of the suction tube opening into the illustrated phantom position thereof. Accordingly, the spacing between the clamping location 32 and the foot bunch 1b becomes greater and the thread is thereby mechanically drawn otf. The location of tappet 4, 4' may possibly prevent the entire bunch from sliding off the coil core, however, experiments have shown that the thread is able to be drawn off quite well for a length corresponding to the length of displacement of the cop, because it either slides under the tappet arm 4, 4 or the cop tends to turn slightly so as to permit the thread to avoid the tappet 4,4. The tappet 4 then returns to the withdrawn position 4 indicated in solid lines in the figure and thereby opens the valve flap 5 by engaging the arm 5a thereof so that the loosened thread can be further sucked into the suction tube 3, 31. This operating period is carried out several times so as to remove the foot bunch 1b reliably even if the thread F is caught at several locations. During the final operating period, after the cop has been raised to the phantom position shown in the figure, the shears 6 are then activated in a conventional manner so that both the thread end P as well as the thread starting end ultimately projecting from below the cop winding, which is formed at the beginning of the winding operation performed on the supply coil, are severed. In order to reliably avoid damage to the cop, it is advantageous to provide the suction tube opening with elastic bearing layers 7, 7 such as rubber or the like. These elastic layers are advantageously formed of rings which are not closed, but rather, consist of several individual layer portions located spaced from one another, so that when the cop is inserted in the mouth of the suction tube, the suction air current is not interrupted by these elastic layer portions 7, 7. Moreover, the slit in the suction tube opening through which the tappet 4 extends, is sealed by a pair of adjacent elastic strips 8. The opening slit between the elastic strips is closed by the negative pressure of the suc tion tube on both sides of the tappet 4.

Obviously, the invention of this application is not limited only to the schematically illustrated embodiment of the drawing. For example, the cop can be guided in a hanging condition above the suction tube opening 3, whereby the suspension of the cop is of such construction that it replaces the functions of the tappet 4, that is, the cop is inserted and withdrawn several times into and out of the suction tube opening and when being withdrawn closes the valve flap 5 each time. It is also possible to employ my invention in connection with a conveyor device in whch the cop is guided in an inclined or horizontal position instead of in a vertical position as shown in the figure.

I claim:

1. Method of readying a supply coil for subsequent processing by removing a tip or foot bunch therefrom, which comprises repeatedly subjecting the bunch to be removed to the action of an air current for relatively short time intervals until a thread end of the bunch is exposed, clamping the exposed thread end at a clamping location between the intervals during which the bunch is subjected to the air current, and relatively moving the supply coil and the clamping location while the thread is clamped so as to mechanically draw off the thread end from the supply coil.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein at least the end of the supply coil on which the bunch to be removed is wound is repeatedly inserted in and withdrawn from a suction tube opening for relatively short time intervals, the exposed thread end being clamped in the suction tube opening whenever the supply coil is withdrawn therefrom.

3. Device for readying a supply coil for subsequent processing by removing a tip or foot bunch therefrom, compressing means for subjecting a bunch to be removed from a supply coil to an air current for relatively short time intervals until a thread end of the bunch is exposed, clamping means for clamping the exposed thread end at a clamping location between the intervals during which the hunch is subjected to the air current, and means for elfecting relative motion between the supply coil and said clamping means, said means for effecting relative motion being operatively engageable with said clamping means when the supply coil and said clamping means are in motion relative to one another for actuating said clamping means to clamp the exposed thread end.

4. Device according to claim 3, wherein said means for subjecting the bunch to an air current comprises a suction tube having an opening, said clamping means being located in said opening, said means for effecting relative motion between the supply coil and said clamping means comprising a thrust member operatively engageable with the supply coil for moving the supply coil relative to the clamping means, said thrust member being also operatively engageable with said clamping means for actuating said clamping means to clamp the exposed thread end.

5. Device according to claim 4, wherein said clamping means simultaneously serves as closure member for said suction tube whereby the air current is interrupted when the exposed thread end is clamped.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,203,634 8/1965 Fiirst 24218 3,289,958 12/1966 Kupper 242-35.6

3,295,776 1/ 1967 Cruickshank et al. 24235.6

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,399,262 4/ 1965 France.

STANLEY N. GILREATH, Primary Examiner. 

